WESTMINSTER DIOCESE EDUCATION SERVICE
To: Chairs of Governing
Bodies of Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Westminster
Cc: Headteachers
4 April 2002
1 Appointment
of Education Officer
The Education Board is delighted to announce the
appointment of Mrs Maureen Roe to the position of Education Officer within the
Department of Schools.
Maureen is currently headteacher of St John Fisher
Primary School in St Albans and takes up her post on 1 June. She fills the vacancy created by the
promotion of Paul Barber to the position of Director of the Department and will
undertake a broad range of school management support duties. Further details will be issued in June, when
she takes up the post.
2 Archbishop’s
Representative at Senior Appointments
This is a reminder that the Archbishop is
represented at the following appointments at all schools and colleges in
the Diocese of Westminster (including independent schools):
q
Headteacher
q
Deputy
Headteacher
q
Head of
Religious Education Department/Co-ordinator for Religious Education
q
Teachers where
the sole or main part of the duties is the teaching of religious education
q
Chaplains.
Where
a vacancy arises for one of these posts (except chaplain), the headteacher (or
chair of the governing body for a headteacher vacancy) is requested to contact
the school’s attached diocesan adviser before the dates for short listing
and interviewing are set. For the
appointment of a chaplain, the school is requested to contact Mgr V.
Felzmann.
3 Secondary
Transfer 2002 *
In some parts of the Diocese, the transfer from
primary to secondary schools continues to be a time of stress for parents,
children and schools alike, despite legislation, the introduction of the Codes
of Practice and better co-ordinated admission arrangements.
The Education Board wishes to conduct a survey to
help identify where the difficulties are most acute. The Board does not propose at this stage to introduce any sort of
Diocese-wide co-ordinating system.
A pro forma is enclosed which primary headteachers
are requested to complete and return by 7 May.
Our hope and expectation is that the information
requested will be readily to hand and will not require a substantial additional
investment of time.
(Enquiries to Ian Beck on 0207 798 9005)
The
Catholic Education Service census is in a different format this year. It is hoped that schools have found the new
format easy to use. It will also
provide more useful information than the previous format, which had remained
substantially unchanged for many years.
Comments are welcome to assist in feedback to the CES. It is hoped that next year at least some of
this information collection can be automated. You are reminded that, this year,
schools are requested to send a copy to the WDES as well as the CES. Would those who have not yet done so, please
make these returns to Vaughan House, as soon as possible, marked for the
attention of Greeny Longville.
This Act requires all governing bodies of maintained
schools and sixth-form colleges to have a Race Equality Policy in place by 31
May 2002. However, the Statutory Codes
of Practice under the Act advising how to implement this duty are still only at
the consultation stage and will not be finalised until early May. The Catholic Education Service is producing
a model policy for Catholic schools, which should be finalised shortly after
the final Codes of Practice are issued, and before 31 May. Governing bodies are urged to wait until
this model is published before adopting a policy. It is recognised by all concerned that the timetable is very
tight, and that some schools may not have their subsequent governing body
meeting until after the statutory date.
6 Catholic
Children’s Society (Westminster)
The Catholic Children’s Society has recently sent a
pack of resource materials to Heads of Religious Education / Co-ordinators of
Religious Education. The pack includes
useful resources which can be used with religious education programmes. The
materials have been designed specifically to link in easily with (but are not
exclusive to) the Here I am or Icons programmes. The packs also
include fund-raising materials.
The Catholic Children’s Society also provides a
school counselling service, which has proved successful for a number of our
schools. A leaflet is enclosed which explains more about this service.
Many of our schools already have a fruitful
partnership with our local Catholic Children’s Society, whether through
fund-raising, the counselling service or in other ways. Others schools wishing
to explore such a partnership or to find out more about the initiatives above
are warmly invited to contact the Society’s Education Officer: Lil Juckes (Tel:
020 8960 1464, E-mail: lilj@cathchild.org.uk)
The Society’s website is at http://www.cathchild.org.uk/.
Many schools are asking what is happening about the
proposed new arrangements affecting the split of liabilities between the
governors and the LEA in terms of elements of the school buildings and
site. We hope the proposals will be
approved and be effective from April this year, but we will not know this until
the last week in March, so for the moment, there is no further news on this
matter. However, you may like to be
reminded of the main changes which will directly affect schools. These are:
·
governors’
contributions reduced from 15% to 10%
·
excepted
buildings (kitchens, caretakers’ houses) will become the responsibility of the
governors
·
governors
responsible for items such as boiler replacement and rewiring and for all
health and safety checks
·
schools submit
invoices directly to the DfES for payment rather than pay themselves and then
request reimbursement
·
all projects
over £2,000 to be funded from formula funding (i.e. funds held in Darlington
against the school name), all projects under £2,000 to be funded from school’s
LEA delegated revenue budget.
8 Management of School Premises: (ii) Formula Funding *
This
refers to the formula amount held in Darlington against the school name. There
is concern about the very large number of schools which to date do not appear
to have spent any of their formula funding.
Whilst it is understandable that some schools may be saving up for big
projects, it is important that the rest of the school building is not neglected
as a result and schools should be establishing a premises development plan as
part of their management planning processes.
A suggested format/headings for such a plan is attached. If you are looking to implement a project over
the summer holiday 2002, you need to be planning this now.
|
Project |
Priority School |
Priority AMP |
Est Gross cost £ |
Funding Sources |
Timing |
Comment |
|
Refurbish Toilets |
High |
medium |
£12,000 |
school formula |
has to be summer holiday |
|
|
provide new library |
high |
low |
£40,000 |
bid for minor works to diocese/LEA |
by new school year 04 |
|
|
redecorate classrooms |
medium |
low |
per classroom? |
formula |
holiday period |
do at least two classrooms per year |
Please
note that if you do not spend your first year’s allocation by the end of the
financial year 02/03, the amount will be deducted from the following year’s
allocation.
Useful website: www.teachernet.gov.uk/schoolbuildings
(Contact
for further information Sally Livesey 020 7798 9005)
9 Link to Novo Millennio Ineunte
A link to the website containing the text of
the Holy Father's apostolic letter on the closing of the Holy Year is on the
Diocesan website. It is in the link Diocesan Renewal as the Cardinal invites
the priests and people of the diocese to use it as the tool for reviewing and
renewing their life in Christ and his Church.
(Further details from
Anthony Clark on 8202 3611.)
10 CCRS study day
The next study day for the CCRS is on
Morality on Saturday 20 April 2002 at Vaughan House. The day begins at 10am, ending 4pm and is led by Sr Helen
Costigane from Heythrop College. It costs £15.00 for a module but £6.50 for the
day only. Registration is possible on the day but advance booking is
preferable.
(Contact Moira Wilson on 020
7798 9193 for details and booking form.)
11 Launch of Catholic Faith Exploration (CaFE)
A training day launching Catholic Faith Exploration
is being held at All Saints, London Colney on May 25th 2002. It is a process
where Catholics can explore their faith in Jesus Christ within the relaxed
environment of small groups meeting in the parish.
(Further details on the
website www.catholicevangel.org or 01727 822837.)
12 Publication of I AM pack
Together with Christians
Aware, the Education Service has published a prayer and action pack reflecting
on the six I AM themes in John's Gospel, including brief prayer, parable,
challenge, 30 second theology and book mark on each. Available from Christians Aware, 2 Saxby St, Leicester LE2 0ND
for£4.50 (+ 75p pp) Tel 0116 254770.
(Further details Anthony
Clark 8202 3611.)
13 New Arrangements for Clearance of Governors
Schools may have been
approached by their LEA about the clearance of governors. New legislation means that all governors
taking up or renewing a term of office must be checked through the Criminal
Records Bureau. The responsibility to
check foundation governors before they are appointed belongs to the diocese or
religious order which appoints the governors. It is the governing body’s
responsibility to ensure that all other governors are checked, normally via the
LEA. This is important because
appointing a governor with a relevant conviction is now a criminal
offence. Independent schools and
religious orders may wish to contact the diocese for further advice.
14 Thanks for Email addresses so far
Thanks for the email addresses we have
received to date. There are a number
still to come and a simple email to us from your school email address is
enough.
Send it to Greeny at glongville@westminsterdiocese.org.uk
15 Interfaith Dialogue: The Teaching of the Catholic Church.
This booklet, compiled at
the request of the Committee for Other Faiths of the Bishops Conference,
presents important extracts from Church teaching, from the Second Vatican
Council to the 2002 interfaith meeting at Assisi. It is recommended especially
for clergy, RE teachers, catechists and other laypeople who engage with people
in today's multifaith society.
(This 64-page booklet,
which costs £3 plus 50p for p&p (cheques made payable to Alfred Agius), is
available from Westminster Interfaith, 23 Kensington Square W8 5HN.)
16 Sixth
Form Funding and General Religious Education.
Letters
have been sent to schools to update Headteachers about the funding for General
Religious Education. There is also a
questionnaire, which should be returned to Rita Price as soon as possible and by
25 April 2002.
17 Cathedral Mass at the Start of the
Academic Year 16 September 7.00 pm
We
have agreed this date with the Cardinal and our Bishop for Education, Bishop
George Stack to celebrate with teachers, staff and governors at the start of
the academic year. It is a valuable
opportunity to be together as a diocese, to share our hopes and prayers for
Catholic education, for our schools and colleges. There is a small planning group. If you are willing to be
involved please ring Rita Price on 020 798 9006.
18 Courses & Conferences.
Please
find enclosed a schedule of dates for forthcoming conferences and courses. The contact for all of these except the East
Region courses, that is the aspiring heads and deputies courses, is Margaret
Sheldon on 020 7798 9006.
Brentwood
Diocese administers the East Region courses and details will be circulated
early in the summer term.
End.